{"id":11846,"date":"2023-10-02T12:38:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T12:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11846"},"modified":"2023-10-02T12:38:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T12:38:53","slug":"the-indictment-of-hunter-biden-isnt-really-about-gun-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11846","title":{"rendered":"The indictment of Hunter Biden isn\u2019t really about gun charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The indictment<\/a> is brief because the underlying situation is quite simple. When Hunter bought the gun, he filled out a form saying he was not a drug user, when in fact he had a serious addiction at that time. Prosecutors assert that this violated three different laws \u2014 two false statements laws, and one law banning firearm possession by a drug user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the legal and political saga surrounding the indictment is much more complicated. Initially, prosecutors weren\u2019t going to charge Hunter in the gun case at all. They did so only after the lead prosecutor, David Weiss, shifted to a more aggressive posture after a plea deal he\u2019d struck with Hunter\u2019s team fell apart. The question is why, exactly, that plea deal fell apart<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hunter Biden investigation has had about as messy a year as could be imagined. In May, two IRS officials involved in the probe went to Congress<\/a> as whistleblowers<\/a> to argue that Weiss\u2019s team wasn\u2019t being aggressive enough. In July, Weiss\u2019s team presented their plea deal with Hunter before a judge \u2014 who refused to accept it<\/a>, telling both sides to clarify some of its provisions after a dramatic public hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in August, talks between Weiss\u2019s team and Hunter\u2019s attorneys to finalize that deal collapsed. Hunter\u2019s team has claimed<\/a> that Weiss tried to belatedly change the deal\u2019s terms on them \u2014 offering Hunter much more limited immunity from prosecution \u2014 after criticism from Republicans that he wasn\u2019t being tough enough on the president\u2019s son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the reason for Weiss\u2019s shift, there\u2019s likely more to come from him. Last month, Weiss, who is the US Attorney for Delaware, requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland grant him special counsel status as well, and Garland agreed. Weiss has suggested in court filings that he intends to charge Hunter with tax crimes as well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The decision to charge here is not because this gun incident suddenly became more serious. It\u2019s because prosecutors have now decided to go after Hunter more aggressively, after the political pressure and the plea deal\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s nothing unusual about prosecutors charging more crimes after a plea deal falls apart. The mystery here remains why, exactly, the plea deal fell apart<\/a>. If the main reason is simply that, due to political pressure from Republicans and embarrassment over the IRS officials\u2019 claims, Weiss\u2019s team got cold feet on a deal they\u2019d agreed to \u2014 that wouldn\u2019t make them look so great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the main reason is instead that, due to confusion or incompetence on his team, he belatedly concluded the initial deal with Hunter had been far too generous \u2014 well, that wouldn\u2019t make him look so great either.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/2023\/9\/14\/23873922\/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-david-weiss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The indictment is brief because the underlying situation is quite simple. When Hunter bought the gun, he filled out a form saying he was not a drug user, when in fact he had a serious addiction at that time. Prosecutors assert that this violated three different laws \u2014 two false statements laws, and one law banning firearm possession by a drug user.
\nBut the legal and political saga surrounding the indictment is much more complicated. Initially, prosecutors weren\u2019t going to charge Hunter in the gun case at all. They did so only after the lead prosecutor, David Weiss, shifted to a more aggressive posture after a plea deal he\u2019d struck with Hunter\u2019s team fell apart. The question is why, exactly, that plea deal fell apart.<\/p>\n

The Hunter Biden investigation has had about as messy a year as could be imagined. In May, two IRS officials involved in the probe went to Congress as whistleblowers to argue that Weiss\u2019s team wasn\u2019t being aggressive enough. In July, Weiss\u2019s team presented their plea deal with Hunter before a judge \u2014 who refused to accept it, telling both sides to clarify some of its provisions after a dramatic public hearing.<\/p>\n

Then, in August, talks between Weiss\u2019s team and Hunter\u2019s attorneys to finalize that deal collapsed. Hunter\u2019s team has claimed that Weiss tried to belatedly change the deal\u2019s terms on them \u2014 offering Hunter much more limited immunity from prosecution \u2014 after criticism from Republicans that he wasn\u2019t being tough enough on the president\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason for Weiss\u2019s shift, there\u2019s likely more to come from him. Last month, Weiss, who is the US Attorney for Delaware, requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland grant him special counsel status as well, and Garland agreed. Weiss has suggested in court filings that he intends to charge Hunter with tax crimes as well.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The decision to charge here is not because this gun incident suddenly became more serious. It\u2019s because prosecutors have now decided to go after Hunter more aggressively, after the political pressure and the plea deal\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing unusual about prosecutors charging more crimes after a plea deal falls apart. The mystery here remains why, exactly, the plea deal fell apart. If the main reason is simply that, due to political pressure from Republicans and embarrassment over the IRS officials\u2019 claims, Weiss\u2019s team got cold feet on a deal they\u2019d agreed to \u2014 that wouldn\u2019t make them look so great.<\/p>\n

If the main reason is instead that, due to confusion or incompetence on his team, he belatedly concluded the initial deal with Hunter had been far too generous \u2014 well, that wouldn\u2019t make him look so great either.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/2023\/9\/14\/23873922\/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-david-weiss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[744,280,835],"class_list":["post-11846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-crime","tag-criminal-justice","tag-hunter-biden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11847,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846\/revisions\/11847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}